Those Fleeting, Precious Days
by Sir sleeps-a-lot
Summary: The days are still as unchanging as ever, but I did find that little sparkle to break through the tedium... The funniest thing... it was in me the whole time. Still, I'll have to keep polishing it till it gets bright enough that someone else will notice it as well...
1. Maybe I shouldn't piss off my mother

**Hi again... Who missed me?**

***crickets chirp***

**Ah well... what can you do?**

**In any case, welcome to the sequel of Those Mindnumbingly Boring Day. I know I said that this would only start in December, but the worst of my exams are over and I got bored.**

**That being said, you might recognize the title of this, and if you do, I'll give you a cookie for paying attention when you were following TWGOK, either from the manga or the anime.**

**Well, I've said enough... This basically picks off a month after Chihiro's conquest ended, and maybe a week or two before the 4 Girls Plus Idol chapters. I know... I did miss that one chapter where they started playing, but I don't think it needed any more elaboration.**

**And so, it begins again...**

* * *

><p>I stood outside my parent's room, the paper shaking in my hands and the corridor's temperature a good five degrees hotter than normal. I pulled the front of my T-shirt, hoping some non-existent breeze would cool me down.<p>

'_Good luck with that!'_ My father's laughing voice repeated in my head. Just yesterday, I'd showed the paper to him, but he told me to take it to my mother…

Which is why, at 8:15 pm, after mum has eaten her daily chocolate piece, and is in her best mood, I was quaking outside her room, waiting till I got the guts to go in.

After ten minutes of reaching towards the door handle then pulling back, I heard the door to my brother's room open.

"Ah, Nee-chan," he said, louder than what I would've liked, so I quickly put my finger to my lips so he'd shut up. He got the message and tiptoed to where I was.

"Don't tell me you got your report already?" He whispered.

"Please… this is way worse than any report," I lowered the paper and moved my hands, which had left wet marks on the side. I pointed at what I wanted.

"It's just a guitar…" his eyebrows furrowed. I then pointed at the price. His eyes widened.

"Wow… you could get a lot of games for that…"

"Exactly… Now I have to beg Mum to buy this for me…" he smirked.

"Good luck with that…" he patted my shoulder, "and if you don't come back, I'll take your room…"

As he was walking away, I landed a well aimed kick on his butt, causing him to stumble and lurch forward. He stuck his tongue at me anyway.

Once he was gone, and my momentary amusement disappeared, the fear started up again, and I considered trying again tomorrow, like how I'd been saying for the last three days.

It's 8:23 already, and her sugar induced happiness window will nearly be closed now…

But if I stop now, I'll never get the guts to step in… I sighed and knocked on the door.

"Come in…"

When I stepped in, with the newspaper catalogue behind me back, it seemed like Oka-san was just about ready for bed. She even had had her book open on her lap.

"Umm… Oka-san?" She glanced up over her glasses at me. I gulped and continued.

"You see… you know I've picked up learning guitar as a hobby, right?"

"Yeah… what of it?" her hazel eyes narrowed, probably because she understood where she was getting at.

"For the last month, I've been borrowing the guitar I was using from Chitose's friend, but I can't keep using it forever…"

"Alright," she sighed, "so what's behind your back?"

I pulled the catalogue out from behind me, and pointed at the guitar I liked.

"I know this looks like a lot of money, but it comes with the amp as well as some other stuff, so it actually is cheaper than usual…"

"No…" she said bluntly before turning back to her book.

"But you didn't even here what the other stuff was…"

"I don't particularly care… I've known you for sixteen years, and picking up hobbies on whim is something you do. Who's there to say you'll even want to play guitar in two weeks time?"

"But I've been playing for a month, and I'm still interested…"

"And how often do you play? Twice a week, maybe?"

"Ah…" I was going to disagree, but her estimate was closer to the truth, "I've just been a little busy, but it doesn't mean I don't want to play…"

"Look Chihiro, I understand, but spending this much for something you're not even that interested in… It's a waste… You should just find a hobby which doesn't need specialized equipment…"

"Maybe…" I stared at my bare feet.

"If you want to do baking or knitting or something, I'll buy you whatever you want, but this is a bit much…"

"I see… sorry for bothering you…" I took the catalogue with me as I left her room.

Back in my room, I sat on the edge of my bed and looked at the wooden guitar at the foot of my bed. I was pretty lucky I got to borrow this long…

I'll have to give it back tomorrow, so I guess this is over now…

I pulled the guitar over to my lap and pushed myself back till I was against the wall.

Honestly, I don't want to give this up…

We were going to be a band… me, Ayumi, Ellie and Miyako… But this can't work if I don't play something… Even if I can do vocals, my voice isn't pretty enough to justify me doing one thing…

But Oka-san has a point… I just don't play enough… to warrant buying a brand spanking new guitar.

Still… it's not as if I didn't care… I honestly was busy… you can't play without some technical knowledge… I was too busy learning how to play this thing to actually play this thing. I learned what all the strings were (every angry dog growls, barks, then eats…) then I learned how to tune a guitar, with the help of that mp3 on how the thickest string must sound… then I learned chords…

Everything I'd learned was scribbled down and stuck by my bed so I could look at it, but it only got harder.

Transferring those notes to reality was easier said than done… Trying to play the five chords I knew… the thicker strings just didn't want to stay down…

Maybe I should give up… It's not like my hands are strong enough for this, and it makes my fingers sore…

That would be for the best…

I'll tell Ayumi tomorrow…

Still… I remember when this whole music craze started… The guitar had been sitting at the corner of my room for half a week after Nee-san had returned back to Tokyo, when I just decided to try it out. The sound wasn't that pretty, so I tried to sing louder than it, yet somehow, I realized I liked that.

So I asked Ellie if she wanted to learn with me… Somehow, I did manage to convince her.

A few days later, once I had gotten a better grip on the guitar, I was going to ask Mappy-chan as well.

_We were actually sending each other emails during class… Takahashi-sensei had bored the rest of the class to a stupor, so it was fine._

'_I was thinking of starting a band… wanna join?'_

'_That'd be fun… Though what did Ayumi-san say when you asked her?'_

'_I haven't asked her… Was I supposed to?'_

'_Wow… you're super dense, aren't you?'_

'_Am I missing something?'_

'_Kinda… yeah… Even look at her now.'_

_At that point, I looked up over my phone, and as Mappy-chan had mentioned, Ayumi wasn't in a stupor. She was actually watching me out of the corner of her eyes._

_My phone vibrated again._

'_I don't know if you've noticed, but she's been hinting at you that she would be interested…'_

_I put my chin on the desk, wondering back. That would explain why she'd been humming quite a lot… and why she was talking with Miyako about playing keyboard… and she'd even shown me some music videos on Youtube…_

_My God, I've been dumb… Normally, Ayumi isn't that into music, but she was trying to show me that she could be… _

_But I've already got Ellie to upstage me… Ayumi will only be worse…_

_But that's just plain rude… to not ask her because of my own insecurities…_

_Ayumi truly does want to play… I'll ask her after class. I felt my phone vibrate again, but it was from Ayumi this time._

'_Sure, I'd love to join your band…'_

_Is she psychic? I glanced up, and she had a huge smile on her face, which made me feel guiltier that I hadn't considered asking her before… Still, at least she joined, in the end…_

In the end, it had turned out Mappy-chan had asked her in my stead, and Ayumi wasn't actually a mind reader. When I had talked to Mappy-chan later, she declined her invitation, saying that this was a perfect time to hang out, and get closer to Ayumi.

It had been one of those subconscious decisions my mind had made, but Ayumi really had a sparkling presence, which I both admired and wanted to stay away from, because it made me feel worse about myself, but it was about time I got over that.

Still, I was the one who started this band idea… it was unfortunate that I'd have to cancel it already…

Though we haven't even had any practice sessions… And Ayumi didn't have her guitar yet. It's alright if I cancel it now.

I picked my phone up from my bedside and called Ayumi.

"Hi Chihiro!"

"Ayumi… how's it going?"

"You'll never guess what I got," she moved her phone, and I could hear some strumming, "I think that was an A minor…"

"Actually, that was just an A. All your fingers are on the same fret, right?"

"Yeah… that's quite impressive you got that over the phone…"

"Actually, I downloaded an mp3 on how all the notes are supposed to sound, so it isn't impressive…"

"That's what you think, but I think you're pretty amazing, starting this band and all…"

"Aah," I rubbed my hair, "I just did it− Wait, did you get a guitar!?"

Wow… that took super long to sink in… I must be getting dumber by the day. She chuckled.

"I was waiting for you to comment on that… Papa caved and we went to buy it at Inazumart today."

"That's great…" no it's not! I can't tell her now!

"So why were you calling?" And the mind reading continues…

"Err… it was nothing, really… I just wanted to say goodnight."

"That's really sweet… I'm glad, though… you're voice sounded really low, that I thought you had some bad news…"

"I-I'm just a bit sleepy, so… There's no bad news…"

"That's good then. You caught me just as I was going to sleep, anyway… Good night!"

"Sleep tight, then…"

"I know I will… my new guitar is so cute… I can't wait to show you it…"

I closed the phone, guiltier than ever… It's not like I can even say that it's still early enough that I wouldn't be causing any trouble by quitting.

I fell, face first, into my blanket.

"What's with the sigh?" Chitose asked. When did he even get here?

"Oka-san said no… but this has gone further than just me… Saying I'll quit will cause more problems for my friends…"

"Who says you have to quit?"

"Well, you need a guitar to play guitar…"

"So… do you want to quit?"

I pulled my head out of the bed and leaned it back on the wall, being careful to not disturb the notes which were stuck there with sticky putty. That was a good question…

I mean, this stuff is pretty hard, and I still haven't gotten the hang of it…

But this brought me and Ayumi together… even though we hang out during class, we don't actually have much in common, so it would be nice to have this…

And this is fun… I guess my answer is pretty clear.

"No… I want to keep learning till I can play something…" He smirked.

"I knew it… It's a pity Oka-san is stubborn about stuff like this…" He started eying the papers behind me, so I quickly adjusted my arms to hide the worst of it from him.

"Like you'd know… Oka-san has been on board with your soccer hobby since day one…" He snorted.

"That's what you think… it still took a good week to convince her I needed soccer cleats…"

"Is that so, huh?"

The wall was bloody uncomfortable, so I grabbed my pillow so I could cushion my back. Plus, it helped with covering the papers a little more. He stopped staring there and continued speaking.

"Yeah… she said I'd get bored with it soon enough, and I should just use my sneakers… In the end, she caved when I showed her how I'd worn them down…"

"That sounded surprisingly easy…"

"That wasn't all… Sneakers also mess with your aim, so I also had to kick a ball through the window to close the deal," he looked weirdly proud of himself.

"Why are you so chuffed that you broke a window…" He sighed.

"My dear, naïve sister… When it affects our mother's pocket, she will be much more likely to fall for your cause…"

So… I have to be obnoxious if I want Oka-san to consider buying that guitar for me.

Obnoxious kind of works for me… I am pretty obnoxious by nature…

"So what do I have to do, Chitose?" His face screwed up in concentration.

"You have to convince Oka-san how much you want this…"

"But there won't be any monetary benefit for her to buy this guitar…"

The room fell to silence as both of us considered what could be possibly convince our mother that buying that guitar would be in her best interests… Then we looked at each other as the idea clicked. The same crafty smile was on both our faces.

"Oka-saaan…" I whispered as I entered her room. She still was awake. Oto-san must've been in the bathroom, because he wasn't here. I walked in.

"What is it?" then she saw I had Chitose's friend's guitar with me, "are you going to play something for me?"

A slight smile came to her face.

"Not exactly… I just want you to know how serious I am about this…." Then I lifted the guitar high above my head.

"What are you doing?" A panicked edge came to her voice, just like how I wanted.

"You like saving money, right?" The guitar was heavier than I expected, and it was shaking in my hands, "then if you agree to buy that guitar for me, I won't do anything to this guitar…"

"What are you talking about?" her voice got dangerously low and her already small eyes narrowed.

"If I broke this guitar, then you'd need to replace it… You'd still be out of money, without having gotten anything out of it…"

I took a deep breath to try and calm myself down, but obviously, my mother's signature glare didn't help in the slightest.

"Is this truly how you want to go about it?"

"I-i-if it works, then yes!"

If I was sweating before, by now, my body was as hot as the sun, and my grip around the guitar neck was slipping. I lowered it.

"You honestly don't get it, do you?" Oka-san laughed without humour.

"What's there to get? I-i-it would benefit you to just listen to-"

"Get out…" she said coldly.

"Huh?"

"I said for you to leave… I refuse to be threatened by my own children over something stupid like this…" She then climbed out of bed. I edged towards the door.

"I don't give a damn about how much it costs, but if it's just going to pick up dust in some corner, I'd rather you broke a thousand guitars than if I brought you one…"

"But…"

"And considering you'd use something you want as a hostage for your selfish game… You just cemented my point that you don't care about it enough."

The door slammed in my face, and my legs, which had slowly been losing energy throughout that conversation finally buckled, and I fell to the floor.

That… wasn't how I wanted it to go… But that was a really risky idea in the first place.

Well, you reap what you sow…

When I mustered the energy to mover, I went back to my room. Chitose was still on my bed, reading the notes I had made, but I didn't have the energy to stop him, or the energy to even care. He glanced at me.

"I'm guessing that didn't go well?"

"No shit, Sherlock…" I muttered, before faceplanting on my pillow, "go to your room…"

For once, he wasn't difficult about it. I felt him move off…

"What did she say?"

"That I didn't get it… and that I was selfish in taking that guitar hostage…"

"It kinda is like that…"

"Though I don't get it… you broke a window and there weren't any major consequences... I just threatened a guitar and all hell breaks loose."

"Maybe it was the guitar… you truly cared for it, you wouldn't put it in danger…"

Huh… he might be right about that…

"I guess that wasn't a well thought plan at all… Even still, how can I fix this now?"

"Maybe you could show her how much playing this actually means to you…"

"But how can I do that? I can't even play any songs on this yet?"

"Maybe you should do that then? I'm sure you can try some beginner song or something…"

"But I can't read tabs yet…"

"Then what's all that?" he indicated to the wall.

"That's chords and other stuff…" I half lied. While I did have some notes on tab reading, it was still too difficult to apply to real life music.

"So… you'll have to apply that stuff one day… Why not start now?"

Yeah… I pulled myself up.

I wanted this… for mine and Ayumi's sake…

I'm sure Ayumi has faced some hard stuff herself, and she got over them just fine.

"You're pretty smart for a jock…" he shrugged, "You're right, though… If Oka-san wants to see me serious, then I'll have to do a little better than that…"

"Attagirl," Chitose gave me a thumbs up, "I'll leave you to your work then. Don't stay up to late."

I barely noticed that he left, because I was too busy sorting through the papers that I'd haphazardly stuck on the wall.

Sorry, Oka-san, but I'm going to get that guitar!

* * *

><p><strong>So now, the question remains... Will Chihiro convince her mother to get that guitar set? Or was the guitar breaking stunt too much.<strong>

**Anyhoo, stay tuned... The answer will come next chapter.**


	2. Maybe I should watch my mouth

In the end, I conked out after an hour of practicing. It was still a school night, so I didn't want to go too far, but I kinda wish I could have practiced longer.

Still, Genius me forgot to set my alarm, so Oka-san was nearly out of the door when I caught her.

[Whoa! A wild OKA-SAN appears!]

[Go! CHIHIRO!]

"Wa-wa-wait…" I panted. She turned around, when sighed because it was me.

"What is it this time?" She glanced down at the huge hunk of wood I was dragging, "isn't it a bit early in the morning to be breaking guitars?"

"It is… which is why I'm not doing anything like that," I took a deep breath and pulled it into a playing stance, "I'll do what it was made for…"

I pulled the guitar strap over my shoulder and ran my fingertips over the metal strings to see if it was still in tune. It was, luckily.

Now, here goes the big plan…

[CHIHIRO used Guitar!]

"Twinkle, twinkle… little… star… How I… wonder… what you… are…" I couldn't even look up, between trying to remember what chord I needed and how my fingers were supposed to move. Not to mention the second long breaks I needed to move my fingertips.

Frankly, it sounded like crap, but I couldn't stop now. I wouldn't stop until she got how much I wanted this.

"Up… above the…world so… high…"

I could feel my face heating up and beads of sweat appearing on my forehead. This concentration was not doing me good.

"Like a…dia-" the barre I'd been attempting to hold with my forefinger slipped, and the note fell, "shit…"

[Barely effective! OKA-SAN's attack increases]

I glanced up at my mother, scared. That curse came out louder than I expected.

"Hmm… that's the first time I've ever heard that in a kid's song…"

I couldn't tell if she was amused or just humoring me till she slammed down.

"Then you haven't heard enough of those parodies," I joked, even though I was already in a pinch. Her right eyebrow arched.

"So you make it a habit to listen to that kind of music?"

[The wild OKA-SAN used No-correct-answer Question!]

A drop of sweat trickled past my eyebrows. If I said no, I was a liar, but if I said yes, I was insolent, and most likely a potty mouth. There's only one thing I can do in a situation like this.

"Look… I practiced this really hard yesterday, because I wanted to show that I'm serious about this…"

[CHIHIRO evades! It was successful!]

Oka-san looked down at her wrist watch.

"Look, I don't have the time to play. My answer still stands…"

[The wild OKA-SAN used ignore! Super effective! CHIHIRO'S attack fell!]

"Please, Oka-saaaaaan…" I started walking towards the door.

[CHIHIRO used begging! Not effective!]

She ignored me and continued walking. I could feel my throat closing up. Still somehow, my body tried following her outside, despite the fact I was barefoot and still in my pajamas.

[Whoa! A wild CHITOSE appears!]

[A wild CHITOSE has been tamed!]

[Go! CHITOSE!]

"Oka-san!"

Both of our heads narrowed on the voice, which was outside on my balcony. Now that he had our attention, he opened his arms.

[CHITOSE used Paper Rain!]

The bright sky became even lighter as the white sheets flew everywhere.

"That's all Nee-chan's music notes!"

Almost simultaneously, a sheet floated down to eye level, and I noticed that it was my writing. All the stuff which had been stuck on my wall next to my bed was now flying over the porch for everyone to see…

[CHIHIRO used Tsundere Angry Attack!]

"Who said you can go to my room!?" I screamed; my voice higher than I liked it.

"You can't say she hasn't put enough effort… She's put in plenty, and there's your proof."

A sheet waved in Oka-san's face on the way down, but I snatched it before she could read too much. Of course, subtlety is a weak point of mines.

"Why can't I see it?"

"My handwriting was a mess here…" I held the sheet to my stomach and laughed, "I didn't want to have to put you through reading that…"

Her eyebrow rose up faster than the Apollo 11.

"He's right though… I made a lot of notes about notes," I laughed at my stupid pun and indicated to the mess of paper all over the front. I figured now was a good time to start picking them all up, but the neck of the guitar kept hitting me on the back of my head.

"You kids are too stubborn…"

"Yeah…" we muttered in unison.

"I can't discredit hard work and stubbornness, can I?" I stood up, and the guitar hit me around the back of the ears because I was moving too fast.

"Consider me convinced…"

[Paper Rain was super effective!]

Sh-she… she agreed…

After the words sank in a second later, I could hear whooping from above me, and I threw the dozen papers I had collected back into the air.

[CHIHIRO used Glomp!]

"Thank you Thank you Thank you!" I threw my arms around my mother's shoulders, both grateful and relieved.

Still, because it's my mother, I could feel her trying to walk away.

"Chihiro…" she turned her head slightly, "I can't go with my daughter as a back pack…"

"I'm sure you can!" I teased. She then gave me one of those looks so I let go of my stranglehold and slid back to my feet.

[The wild OKA-SAN has been tamed!]

[CHITOSE and CHIHIRO gain 20 XP! CHITOSE is now on Level 10!]

"We did it!" I shoved my fist in the air. I heard my mother laugh as she climbed into her car.

I moved away a little and started picking up the papers, so my brain wouldn't pay much mind to the car reversing out of the car port.

"Yes we did," Chitose raised his fist as well, though with much less spirit then me, "by the way, you do remember you're still out in the street in your PJs, right?"

I was too happy to care. I didn't care about the pajamas, or the front tiles being hot or the fact that Oka-san nearly saw my notes…

In hind sight, if Chitose threw them down, he definitely saw them… That might be a problem…

I'm afraid that I might have to kill him.

"So Nee-chan…"

Ignore him… There's no way that tone will lead to anything good…

"I saw your doodles… they were cute…"

I took a deep breath and continued picking up the papers, which seem to have gone everywhere.

It seemed to be working. I'm pretty sure my face was unreadable.

"Or should I say, Chihiro Katsuragi…"

"I didn't write that!"

My head snapped up to glare at him, but he obviously didn't care about that. He was just leaning over the balcony with a bored look on his face.

"I know… I did…"

Sure enough, the paper in front of me had that written in the margin. My poker face fell at those two words.

Chihiro Katsuragi…

It's gonna take a lot more than deep breaths to keep my composure after this.

"I'm going to kill you!"

"No you won't… You wouldn't leave your two kids without an uncle…"

"Two kids?"

"Yeah… Keiichi and Chima… And you'll have a dog named Rufus… And I'll be babysitting a lot."

Yeah… I regret asking…

"L-look! They were harmless doodles, but now you've gone and blown them out of proportion!"

"I'm sure they were," he smirked, "but if you don't mind, I'm getting late… You should get ready too…"

* * *

><p>"This is sooo awesome!"<p>

And it was. This being Ayumi's guitar.

It was just a normal blue acoustic guitar, but she'd already gotten down to customizing it, so it had a bear face and three paw prints at the bottom of the main body. Even Miyako was itching to try it.

"And listen to this!" She held down a C and strummed with her fore finger's knuckle and thumb. The sound was so loud and clear.

"Whoa! How did you do that!? I can never get mines to sound that loud…"

She adjusted her thumb so I could see the small black piece of plastic.

"Oh, a pick," Miyako said.

"Yeah… I got it free when I brought this."

"C'mon! Let me have a go too, Ayumi!"

"Sorry Chihiro… I promised Miyako she could try it first," Miyako smiled as Ayumi passed it over.

"You brought your guitar as well… Why don't you play that while I give this a go?" Miyako said sensibly.

"Come to think of it, didn't you say you were returning it today?" I shrugged. Ayumi was right.

"Chitose forgot to take it when he left this morning…"

Eh, this guitar stuff is not good for my nails. They're getting kinda jagged.

"Chitose?" Miyako stopped strumming the wires for a second.

"Chihiro's little brother…"

"Oh, so Chisaki-senpai isn't your only sibling…"

Oh, she knows her name? I swear I haven't mentioned that…

"Oh, you've met her?" Ayumi voiced my thoughts out loud.

"Yeah…" Miyako moved her hand and tried to play something, "though do you think you can play the same notes from the keyboard on here?"

"Hmm… I could try… if you let me have a go at that…" Miyako moved the guitar away from my grabby hands.

"You can show me later… Though how do you make a D on a guitar?"

"I'll show you later," I echoed. Both Miyako and Ayumi laughed.

"So... What were you saying about Chitose again?" Ayumi brought the topic back on track.

"Chitose? Oh yeah… This guitar belongs to a friend of his… He was supposed to take it back today, so I'll have to make a detour back to Maijima East Elementary on my way home…"

"Oh, I bet that'll be nostalgic. I haven't been there in years…"

"Really? I went there… like seven weeks ago…"

"Were you visiting to see if our teachers were still around there?

"Nah, Chitose caught a stomach bug, so I had to make sure he got home in one piece."

"Sounds like a blast…" she muttered.

"The worst part was that we had to walk the route back. He must've puked in half the bins on the way home…"

Both of them cringed sympathetically.

"It was fine though… Though I think I'll take the bus today, because the walk is way too much… Do you want to come, Ayumi?"

Ayumi's face brightened but almost instantly, the look dampened.

"I would… but we have Track and Field…"

"Eh, I understand… It's always been like this."

Then Elsie came in, to diffuse the slightly tense mood. She looked uncharacteristically serious…

"What's wrong, Ellie?" Ayumi asked.

"Nothing's wrong… I'm just thinking what I should get him…"

"Him…" all three of us repeated, a bit dumbfounded. Since when does Ellie talk about boys?

"Well, it was his birthday last week and no one told me. Now I need to get something really good…" she glanced up from the ground at me, "Chihiro-san… you used to confess a lot… What's a good gift to get for a boy?"

I could feel my face turning red as everyone started looking at me.

"I-I only did that for a few weeks, and I didn't succeed, so I have no clue!"

At that point, I noticed Mappy walking to her desk.

"Sh-she has a boyfriend! You should ask her!"

"Hiroko-san has a boyfriend?" Mappy looked up at the sound of her name.

"Yeah, go ask her about it, rather…"

Luckily, homeroom started quite soon after that, so that conversation didn't really go much further.

Man… I didn't get ask who the present was even for.

I kind of dozed off during English, so, as usual, I was doodling… Two kids… The dog named Rufus… Katsuragi…

Let's just say that the paper could not get crumpled fast enough. I swear, since I got this new mechanical pencil, it has had a mind of its own.

I do doodle, but nowadays, it's become really specific. Like it is with those notes I'd been making to learn music, I've been drawing hearts and raindrops and umbrellas and for some strange reason, boats and trees.

Actually, the trees aren't that much of a surprise. It's been floating around my subconscious for nearly a month now.

It was actually a dream. A girl and a boy sheltered from a storm under a tree. Some angry words fly through the air when the girl suddenly kisses the boy before running away.

When I first saw this dream, it was a lot closer. I could hear the words and the two people were more than silhouettes.

Well, dreams are dreams… there's no point of really dwelling in that. Still, I kinda wish I knew what was up with that, because that would make a nice climax to a romantic movie… The boy chases her into the rain and confesses his feelings… Then the happily ever after begins.

Somehow, it didn't feel like it had a happy ending… Despite how it looked, I just felt a little empty thinking about it.

"Is throwing people under the bus a new thing of yours?" Mappy slapped her hand on my shoulder. She caught me on the way back to class after getting an Omelette-Soba sandwich from Demeters.

"You could say… Besides, it wasn't a secret that you and Shinji-kun are dating…"

"I guess that is true… Still, I know you did it because you wanted the attention off of you," I shrugged. She had me there.

"So… did Ellie tell you who the present was for?"

"She did…" I watched her expectantly, "though it doesn't mean I'll tell you who…"

"So it's a secret now?"

"For you it is… Consider it payback…"

Yeah… I probably deserved that…

* * *

><p>After school, I caught the 3:30 bus to Maijima East. It was a walkable distance, but I was too lazy, and that meant I could finally read this week's Chauchau. Now that Oka-san agreed to buying the new guitar, I could stop with the studying and do something more fun.<p>

"Do you mind if I sit here?" I asked the guy next to the closest available seat. It had an overhead bag carrier as well, which was a perfect place to keep the guitar.

He just ignored me, so I took that as agreement enough.

I considered putting in headphones, but since I've started learning about music, I've been paying too much attention to the beats per minute and whether I could pick up notes (though I really can't), but I decided against it because it's impossible for me to concentrate on anything else.

Interesting… Kanon-chan is getting an album. It's coming out in two weeks, so maybe I should buy a copy of that.

Oh look… AKB48 has gone over their 48 people limit… I guess when there's so many talented singers in Japan, what can you do?

I ended up getting through a significant amount of the magazine and the horoscopes (apparently I'm going to have a fated encounter soon… Peesh!), when I noticed my stop was a few blocks off, so I put the magazine away. I've missed too many stops to make that mistake again.

Still, I got a little bored, so my eyes started wandering at the people around me. There was a stressed out mother with twin boys (no surprise there), the man with a briefcase on his phone and a little girl who was napping at her seat. By the bright pink clothes and the double pony-tail, I suspected she'd just gotten off a sugar rush.

Though speaking of nap… I think the guy next to me was doing that as well. I couldn't really tell behind his sunglasses, but his breathing sounded way to calm for him to be awake.

Actually, he's kind of cute… The back of his jet black hair was tousled from his nap and his gakuran had the top buttons opened, and his green undershirt was sticking out. He's exactly the kind of sloppy handsomeness I'd have been all over a month ago. I heard a little groan.

"I'm not asleep!" He bolted up from his previous reclining position. I'm pretty sure my heart stopped for a few seconds as I tried to make it seem like I hadn't been staring at him.

"Eh… not that anyone cares here anyway…" he muttered under his breath. I felt him shift slightly so he was staring out of the window on his side.

Still… what the hell was up with that? He definitely was asleep before. He sure bounced back fast. I peeked a little to the side, and he seemed pretty out of it, just like before. The only way I could tell he was still awake was his irregular finger tapping, like he was writing Morse code or something. But I'm pretty sure Morse code doesn't have circle spinning as part of that, so I had no clue what he was actually doing.

"You so were asleep," I muttered. He turned his head slightly.

"Why does that matter?"

I don't know if it was the uncertain tone or the slight reddening of his ears, but something just made me want to say more.

"Well, you were drooling and snoring…"

Oh… Did I say I wanted to talk more… Nah, I wanted to mess with him more. That ear reddening thing was really cute.

"I don't drool," he protested.

"Sure you do… It was like little rivers. I even opened the window to stick your head out so you didn't make a mess everywhere."

"Oh really!?" He sounded amused now, so I continued.

"Yeah… You can even open the windows and you'll see the trail all over the side…"

"Oh reeeaally?" he turned his body around so he was facing me.

"Yep, really… Like a dog," I turned around as well.

I don't know what it was, but when he was looking at me straight in the face, the air felt like it almost solidified with tension. He turned around to look out of the window again.

"What? You're not going to even try to refute the snoring point?" I said after a few seconds of awkward silence.

"I know I don't snore…"

That's all he said for the rest of the trip. I must've gone too far with my teasing…

When I got off the bus with both the guitar and my normal bag, I saw the boy still staring out of the window with a weird look on his face. I couldn't really decipher it because of the sunglasses, but it was probably the look he had on towards the end of the bus ride, and I kind of felt bad for having invoked that.

I mouthed a sorry, even though I had no clue if he was watching. I think he might have been, because the frown only got deeper before he turned away.

Some people are just way too sensitive. I even apologized, so I wipe my conscious clean of this incident.

* * *

><p>When I reached Maijima Elementary School, I made a beeline to the soccer pitch because, let's face it, my brother would never be anywhere else. At least once I found him, he could give the guitar back and then I could go home. Now that Oka-san had approved the guitar, I have to go choose the design I like, which may take a few hours at least.<p>

At the pitch, it seemed like it was practice. Luckily, I didn't have to call, because Chitose came running to the field edge anyway.

"Nee-chan, what are you doing here?" I bopped him on the head.

"You tell me… You forgot the guitar at home, so I came all the way so you could give it back."

"Whoops," though his face showed no remorse at having made me travel halfway across Maijima, "Let me tell the coach then we'll go give the guitar back."

It was the weirdest thing being back here in these corridors. It's been five years since I graduated from here, so stuff has changed.

"You're lucky that today is when the piano club meets…"

"Don't clubs happen everyday?"

"Everyday? Nah… most clubs meet once a week. Soccer is a bit more intensive, so we meet three times a week…" I scoffed.

"Wait till you come to high school… Then you'll see intensive club activities…" the slightly scared look on his face as he pondered having club meets all the time made me a little happy.

"Alright, we're here…" he knocked on the door. Someone replied from inside, so he stuck his head in.

"Is Tomoko in?" Wait… that's a girl's name, right?

Whoever stepped out was definitely a girl… and a pretty girl at that. She was wearing a green knee length dress with a matching alice band and her wavy brown hair was open and went down to her shoulders. She was super cute. I was going to enjoy teasing Chitose about her later.

"Th-thanks for lending this to me," I tried to say it clearly, but I was a little tongue-tied. I pulled the bag over my head so I could hand it over.

"Sure…" she held out a hand to take the bag. Not that the guitar was really heavy in the first place, but I was surprised her hand didn't move at all with the weight.

"My mother agreed to get me a guitar so I won't need it any more."

"Though, if you don't mind me asking, what made you want to learn guitar in the first place?"

That was a kind of heavy question… I'd never really thought about it at all.

Actually, it wasn't that heavy… It maybe took me a second to think of the answer.

"It's interesting…" she smirked.

"Would you play it if it wasn't interesting?"

"Yeah… My friends are counting on me…"

"In that case, I'll warn you now," she pulled the bag over her shoulder, "there'll be times when it isn't interesting… you'll try your hardest, but it'll take forever to improve. You'll probably fail a few times as well…"

"Why are you telling me this?" She looked over her shoulder.

"Music is serious business, and if you're not strong enough to handle the downs, tell your mother to save her money and go pick up some other hobby…" I gawked. She doesn't beat around the bush at all.

"Honestly, you're reason for playing is half-assed…" I scrunched my hands into fists.

"Thanks for worrying," I said through gritted teeth, "but I'll make my reasoning work…"

"I wish you luck then… don't take this lightly," she opened the sliding door and went back inside.

"Wow… She's frank…"

"Yeah… she's always like that."

"Though why does she play piano, when she has a guitar too?"

"I have no clue… She's probably mastered the guitar already and wanted to try something else…"

We started heading back to the field when something occurred to me.

"Why did she give you the guitar in the first place? I'm pretty sure you got it before I started playing…"

He scratched his head.

"I don't know… she just told me to give it a go… She thinks you need more than one hobby to be a well rounded person."

For most of the walk, we were quiet.

"Which reminds me… You haven't tried killing me yet?"

It took me a few moments to remember what I was supposed to kill him over.

"There's no point…" I shrugged, "I do like him, so of course you'd want to mess with me…"

"I'm glad you understand," he put his hands behind his head, but some idea hit him, "Though you're going through all that effort of learning to play guitar… Maybe you could write a song for him?"

"No way… My music is for myself…" I shoved the idea instantly, "though if you want, when you and Tomoko-chan get married, I'd be happy to write a song for you guys…"

I won't lie… the disgusted look on his face might have made my day if that whole thing hadn't happened with Oka-san this morning.

"Eww… I'm ten… Why are you getting me married off already?"

"Well, I'm sixteen… I'm not supposed to get married off either."

"Fine fine… no more embarrassing graffiti on your stuff…"

"Thank you!"

* * *

><p><strong>This turned out to be super long. How I've missed this...<strong>

**I'm sorry I'm so late, but it took really long to get my head around this. Clearly, this fanfiction will be much harder to write than the original.**

**Lots of stuff happened today, and because it's me, some stuff won't make sense till later. Still, I was pleased how this chapter turned out.**

**I don't know if anyone cares, because it has little bearing within the story, but Chihiro is 16. I know the omake chapter from the manga makes her 17, but she's a second year student, so she's 16 turning 17. Most likely, I'll cover Chihiro's birthday (because I love b-days) but it'll be right at the end after canon ends.**

**Anyhoo, I hoped you liked it.**


	3. Maybe I just shouldn't listen to Mappy

At lunch, me and Mappy were trading answers for our chemistry homework… Well, not so much as trading as I was letting her copy my answers. This must make it the first time where I was the one who actually did my homework.

We couldn't go on the roof (the school put a number lock there after some kid nearly fell off a few weeks back), so we were sitting on some benches. Mappy was diligently working while I was eating a Yakisoba sandwich.

"Chiro-chan," I stopped staring at the empty Sakura trees, "what did you do here?"

I frowned… I was never fond of explaining homework.

"You take the H from there and the OH from there and bond them, so you get water and a different hydrocarbon," that seemingly worked, because she went to the next question.

For a few minutes, I just admired the plain scenery and chewed on my lunch. Recently, I have been doing a lot of that. It's weird, because I always used to be bored when I watched it before. Now, it's not so bad, watching the wind blow through the trees.

"Oi!" I got back down on to earth when she started waving her hand in my face.

"Sorry 'bout that," I laughed and glanced down at the two books, "is it another problem?"

"Nah… It was something else…" I gave her a nod so she'd continue, but I doubt she noticed, as it was like she was having a staring contest with her chemistry book, "How are things going with Katsuragi?"

Suddenly, I understood why she was hesitating.

"Eh…" I shrugged, "I haven't spoken to him in a while…"

"How long is a while, exactly?"

Lessee… Last time I remember talking was before Koromogae, which was two weeks ago…

"About three weeks…" Yeah… that was around the time I gave him that present.

Around the time I had first started thinking about this whole music business, I had already started assigning possible roles in my girl band. Miyako already played keyboard by that time, so I'd put her there. I decided to give Ellie bass guitar, because six strings may be too much for her. Both me and Ayumi would play guitar, but we were still without a drummer.

Well, Ayumi might have been able to take drums, but her specialty is a lot of power at once, so keeping that level of energy all the way through a song might kill her. In the end, playing drums takes precision, strength and keeping up a tempo. There was only one person who I thought might be able to play the drums, but he wasn't a girl…

Well, he might be able to pass of as one…

Which is why I gave him a complete girl's uniform and an invitation to join us…

In hindsight, I'm pretty sure I'm not right in the head… I'd blame my parents for dropping me on my head as a baby, except nothing like that ever happened to me… So I have no excuse…

"Oh… Because I was thinking of a good way of getting closer to him…"

Oh look, another plan? Because the last couple haven't blown up in my face enough…

"Don't give me that look!" Well, she can read my face well enough, "I swear… if it goes according to plan, you'll be the only girl he'll be thinking about…"

"Fine, let's hear it," there's no point trying to shut her up when she has an idea. It wasn't like I was a little curious myself anyway.

"You should get him a birthday present that will blow his socks away…" she moved her hands in a wooshing motion as well. I scoffed. Easier said than done…

"Guys are difficult to shop for…" I shrugged, "and I don't even know when that guy's birthday is…" she lifted her finger up at that last point.

"But I do…" she said excitedly, "all you need to do is think of what you'd want to get him…"

"When is it? And how do you even know when it is?"

"It's on the sixth of June, and Elsie told me… That's why she was asking for advice yesterday…"

That made a lot more sense compared to what I'd been thinking about. Ellie doesn't have any friends outside our class, so I doubt she'd have a boyfriend. Sixth of the sixth, huh? That's weird…

"Wait, but the sixth was last week!" That's no help if his birthday has already passed.

"I know… but think about it… Did anyone even acknowledge his birthday?"

She had a point there. No one knew about it and it was on a school day… It even took Ellie a week to find out about it, so obviously, he didn't celebrate it at home either.

"It doesn't seem so…" I yawned, "Though even still, what could I even get him?"

"A game," she lifted a finger.

"Ellie says he gets games every Thursday… I'd just get him something he already has…"

"How about one of those PFP things?"

"They're kind of expensive…"

"How about chocolate?"

"He always gets mad when Ellie makes him dessert… I think he doesn't have a sweet tooth."

"Will you stop shooting all my ideas down with that deadpan voice!?" she slammed her book on the bench next to me. I raised my hands up in apology.

"Look, I know you mean well, but I don't know him well enough to give him a present."

"If you ask me, you know him plenty well… Just in the last minute, you've mentioned two things I didn't know about him…"

"I wouldn't say I know him well," I scratched my chin, a little bit embarrassed; "I just overhear a lot in my seat while I'm reading magazines. For example, Kurahashi-san from the next seat is writing a novel…"

Mappy shrugged.

"Rei-chan… I knew that one, because she's my cleaning partner."

Silence fell on the bench.

"Come on… there has to be one thing you've overheard which may give you an idea of what he would want…"

"I know what he doesn't want, and that's a girls' school uniform…" I said without thinking. This is why my brain isn't allowed on autopilot.

"A girls' school uniform…" the idea sank into her head, "which guy would possibly want one of those?"

I made sure to not keep eye contact.

"You didn't!?"

Shit… though not keeping eye contact is just as incriminating.

"Please tell me that you did not give your crush an outfit made for girls!"

"I didn't," my voice was really small, and it only got smaller, "cross dressing boys would wear it too…"

"Gaaah!" she threw her hands up, "you're completely hopeless…"

"I can't do anything bout it now, can I!? I'll need to think of what I can get for him now…"

Gift… gift… present… why do I even have to get a present…

"Come to think of it, wouldn't it be weird if I got him a present… We're not really friends or anything…"

"I don't want to hear it from the person who gave him a girls' uniform," Mappy replied angrily. I just shrugged. The bell for chemistry class went off. We stood up, and she handed my book over.

"Nope, no present… it'll just throw him off if I'm being so nice…"

The subject was dropped for the rest of the walk.

Still, I was still pondering that whole birthday thing. Ellie herself was having trouble with getting him something and she was his sister… I was screwed if I actually wanted to get Katsuragi something…

Though every birthday needs a cake… Even if he wasn't fond of sweets, he'd have to eat cake… Though what cake?

When both me and Mappy were in our seats, and she definitely wasn't looking my way, I got Katsuragi's attention with my ruler.

"Otamega…" poke "Otamega…" and again, "C'mon, Otamega…" he turned around, glaring. What's new there?

"Do you like cake?"

"Is this your idea of small talk, because I'm not interested…" he turned back.

"Just answer the question so this conversation can end already…" I poked him again.

I really couldn't explain why I got a kick out of annoying him… I just found it impossible to have a normal conversation with him. It's probably because he's so abnormal himself that I have to respond accordingly.

"No, the frosting is too damn sweet. So is this conversation done?"

I kind of wish it wasn't, but that was all I really had to say.

"Yes, you can continue gaming like an idiot now…" he turned back, but another question came to my head, "Actually, one last thing… what did you think of the cake Miyako made for Ayumi's party?"

"I didn't try it…'

"What do you mean? You crashed into the cake, so you must have at least tasted it…" he turned back around, but his face just look puzzled.

"What do you mean? I didn't go to that party… You must have me confused with someone else."

"Of course you did… Your cake-covered face made my night," I laughed at that image. At that time, I was more curious to who pushed him there in the first place, but I was still lamenting that I hadn't taken a picture of that.

"You're either confused or forgetful, but either way, I wasn't there… As if I'd come to some real girl's party…"

Seriously… Ayumi's birthday was five weeks ago… He has to be messing with me, but no one forgets stuff that easily…

Now what did I have for lunch today?

Never mind that… no cake! I should tell Ellie as well. She should rather make… pie…

Yeah, it's savoury and you can stick a candle in it… It's a fine replacement for cake.

I should send her a recipe for that.

While class continued, I was searching for good recipes on my phone. There was this yummy looking beef pie with mashed potatoes inside, and it was relatively simple to make, so Ellie wouldn't have a problem.

Because today was Saturday, we finished after this class. As soon as we were done, I pulled Ellie out of class.

"What are you doing, Chihiro-san?"

"Mappy was telling me about your problem, so I just had an idea for you," I handed her my phone.

"Meat… pie?" she handed the phone back, "but that isn't a present, Chihiro-san…"

"I know it isn't," I looked at the picture again, "but all birthdays need a birthday cake, and your brother doesn't like sweets…"

"So… I should make this," she took the phone again, "at least I have all the ingredients here."

"Alright, then you can even make it in the home ec room here," but Ellie was digging something out of her bag, "though what is that?"

She pulled out her hand, which was tightly wrapped abound something green and squirming. The back of my neck started prickling.

"It's a Brilwig potato," she offered it to me, but I just backed away. That wasn't a potato… Potatoes weren't alive…

"Put that down, Ellie," I didn't like the look of that at all… Heck, I'd never even seen that in my life.

"Don't worry, Chihiro-san…" she rubbed the hair like roots, "he won't bite… I removed his teeth before I came here."

"No, that is not okay, Ellie! Put that back in your bag… We're going shopping,"

I begged her to throw out her weird ingredients, but she had a very strange attachment to them. I had to let her keep them, but at least her bag seemed to sooth them, because they weren't shaking anymore.

Did she buy those monstrosities from Super Tamade? I knew their food is probably past its expiration date, but moving food!? That's just crazy!

Once we had paid, Ellie got off her phone.

"Oka-sama says Kami-nii-sama is already home. Maybe we should go home and make this pie…"

I shook my head frantically… Going to Katsuragi's house… I can't handle that right now.

"I-I-I think you'd be able to handle this without me…" I held the bag out for her.

"But I've never cooked with these kinds of ingredients before. Please help me, Chihiro-saan!"

She refused to take the bag, so as it turned out, I had to go. I could only wonder how I ended up going so far with this plan, considering the beginning idea was just to give Ellie the recipe. Now I'm at Katsuragi's house… I might even meet their family…

"Oka-samaa, I'm home!" Ellie called as she entered. I just waited awkwardly, even though she'd invited me in.

"El-chan," a woman with a mixing bowl popped her head in through one of the doors, "you brought a friend as well…"

"Ye-yeah… I hope I'm not being a bother," I took off my shoes and put them neatly at the foot of the stairs, "I'm Chihiro Kosaka."

A smile appeared on her face.

"There's no bother at all… In fact, I was wondering why El-chan never brought her friends over."

"We have something important to do, Oka-sama. We're going to use the kitchen…" Ellie finally took the bag from me, now that I was in no position to run away any more.

"What are you girls making today?"

"Pie," Ellie started taking out the ingredients we had brought and put them all on the counter, "we figured Nii-sama would like that instead of cake…"

"Aah, you're friends with Keima as well," Ellie's mother turned to me. I looked away.

"N-not really… Ellie just asked for my help, so I came here to give her a hand."

"That's still sweet. Thanks for taking good care of my kids…" she started walking around the kitchen, indicating where the appliances and utensils were, before announcing that she was going out to do some chores.

As Ellie was getting the preparation work done, I was taking a look at the room. There were tables and chairs everywhere, and on the long counter we were standing behind was a stack of menus. I grabbed one

"You have a café in this place?" From the menu, which had assorted coffees, teas and pastries, that was the only conclusion I could come to.

"It's called Café Grandpa, but we're not really busy. Oka-sama make's the food there, and I waitress and clean at the end of the day…"

"That's great Ellie," I rubbed her hair admiringly. At school, Ellie can be a bit of a flake, but she actually is quite responsible, "though what does your brother do?"

"Kami-nii-sama…" she frowned, "he doesn't help with the café…"

"So he's no good, both at school and at home…"

"Well, Nii-sama does well at school, even though he doesn't like it… He used to help with the cooking before, but since I moved here, he just goes straight to his room…"

I don't know if it was my insecurities about how I really wasn't good at school, and I only did basic chores at home, but I think the Katsuragi siblings are pretty amazing… It's a far cry calling myself Otamega's friend, but at least I'm close to Ellie.

"So should we begin?"

"One second…" I tied up my aprons strings and clipped my fringe up. That wasn't my preferred hair style, but my fringe is getting long enough that when it's damp, it covers my eyes and annoys me. Now, I was ready to cook.

As soon as this is done, I'm going home. I'd rather Katsuragi didn't know of my involvement anyway. I can have lunch when I get home.

About 20 minutes in, the pie was sitting in the oven, and we were sitting on the counter, twiddling thumbs.

"Thank you so much for coming over and helping, Chihiro-san," I just shrugged.

"It's alright… I don't do much at home anyway, so at least this was a little productive…"

"Though how did you know that Nii-sama would like something like this?" I tried to look casual, but I could feel a little heat rising up my face.

"I-I figured your brother probably wouldn't want a birthday cake after that last mishap…"

"What last mishap?"

Seriously, am I the one who's remembering wrong? Both of them were at the party… I don't want to embarrass myself by bringing that up when it's something I only remember… it may have been that I had a dream about it…

"It doesn't matter… Though is this going to be a surprise?" Ellie frowned.

"Nii-sama doesn't really like surprises or birthdays… I just wanted to do something for him so that he knows I appreciate all he does for me…"

Man, Ellie really is the sweetest… And that serious face she's making now makes her look even more earnest and cute…

"Katsuragi better appreciate this, or I'm going to steal you and keep you as my sister," she laughed.

"I hope he does like this… Then you won't have to…"

A lull fell on the conversation, so I changed the subject.

"How has playing bass been going?" She pouted.

"Not well… I don't know anything other than the strings… I want to learn more, but I don't know where I can learn from."

"Come with me tomorrow… We can go to the library and get books…"

"But… I'm not really good at kanji…" Ellie's head dropped, and she started rubbing her nails.

Ugh, I'd hate to resort to this, but Ellie does have to learn. Someday soon, we're going to be in a band together, and we're going to rock it… But all that depends on whether we can play.

"We could…" I took a deep breath, "we could go see my cousin…"

"Your cousin?"

"He's the one who gave me your bass guitar… When he gave it to me, he did offer to teach me basic notes…" It's just the other stuff he offered which bugged me.

And Ellie is waaaaaay cuter than me… how is he going to treat her?

"Waaah… That would be so great!" Her eyes started sparkling… I sighed.

I better call Keita tonight so there's no weird business when she goes there.

The egg timer went off then, so we both jumped off and started watching the pie through the oven window.

"Do you think it looks done?" I asked softly. Our heads were right in front of the door, so speaking any louder would be stupid.

"I don't know," she whispered back, "I usually cook food that still moves once it's done…" I raised an eyebrow at her.

"What… it stays warmer much longer…"

"Sorry Ellie," I slapped my hand on her shoulder, "I love you, but I will never eat the food that you make…"

With all those weird ingredients she uses. It's no surprise… I guess that may just be normal at where she is from… I know some people can eat fish while it's still alive, so maybe she came from a place like that…

I dunno… I'd say the pie looks golden. I don't do much cooking, but I'm pretty sure that's a good sign.

"Eh, I think it's done now…" I slipped on the oven mitts which had been on the counter and pulled the pie out.

"Elsie, is someone here? I see some extra shoes…"

The door opened, and the other Katsuragi came in, wearing a white-collared and trousers. I've never seen him out of school uniform, which is why I actually noticed.

'Ah, just making lunch, Honey…'

Even though I didn't say that out loud, it was still plenty embarrassing my brain jumped there. It was like a scene from one of those 80's films that my mum wouldn't admit to watching, but she so does.

Damn it Chihiro! We're not married!

Damn you, Katsuragi!

Damn, I've been holding it so long that it's burning my hands. I quickly put it in the stove top and flung the mitts off.

"Are you okay, Chihiro-san?"

"Yeah… I was just holding it a bit too long because someone distracted me," I glared at Katsuragi, who was sitting on a barstool by the counter, playing his PFP, "why is he even here? I thought he'd be shut up in his room…"

"It's my house, you know?" he replied, "rather, why are you here? Or are school times so short that you had to annoy me at home too?"

"I have better stuff to do with my time, you know? I was just helping Ellie with something…"

"Whatever… Have we got anything to eat, Elsie?"

"We have pie, Nii-sama…"

"If you made it, I'll pass…" I felt my hands clench. We went through a lot of effort to make this.

"She made it for your sake, Otamega!"

"And Chihiro-san helped as well…" I felt my cheeks heat up.

"Then I'm definitely not touching it… She'd poison it on purpose."

"Otamega, that's just stupid… If I wanted you dead, I'd sic Ayumi on you…" he shivered understandably. Saying Ayumi can kick hard is actually an understatement.

"You know what… I'll just take something from the fridge…"

He stood up, leaving his PFP on the counter. With every step he took, I could feel myself get angrier. Despite my plan of leaving as soon as I'd pulled this out of the oven, the fact that Otamega wasn't even going to try it just strengthened my resolve.

New plan… I'll leave when he takes a bloody bite. Ellie wanted to do something for her brother, and damn straight, she will do it. Screw Otamega!

I had the advantage though… I was closer to the fridge than him.

"Ellie, cut a piece of that pie!"

"Chihiro-saan, it's fine if Nii-sama doesn't want it."

"No it isn't! You tried your hardest on this, and it looks good. He has no reason to not try it! Now cut the damn pie!"

I think I scared Ellie enough, because in a moment, there was a filled plate in my hand.

"C'mon, Otamega… don't write it off without giving it a try…"

"I'm not risking indigestion of that thing… Do you know how much time I waste on that!?"

"I don't care… if you don't eat it, I will force feed it to you!" we glared at each other. In that time, we were right opposite each other.

"Ka-saaan!" he screamed. Good luck with that…

"She's not here to protect your picky ass… Now eat your damn pie!" At the same time, he tried ducking past me, so I grabbed to stop him.

We all know how this story ended…

For a moment, neither me nor Ellie could believe that I'd sent the plate straight into Katsuragi's face. I wanted to laugh, but I felt more bad than amused. I hadn't intended to go that far at all.

"Uh… I'm really sorry…" I couldn't tell if he was glaring at me, because the mince and potatoes was still clinging on his face, "though at least you'll know how it tastes now..."

I'm 105 percent he's glaring at me this time. My stomach just sank lower than what it already was.

"Man, you just have bad luck with food…" I rubbed the back of my head…

Escape! Escape!

"I really am sorry; I didn't mean to do it on purpose…"

"I don't believe that for a second!"

"Enough, you two!" We both looked to the side, where his mother was nearly on our shoulders.

Oh crap…

"Keima, I'm sorry this happened, but I'm sure Chihiro-chan didn't intend for that. Now you should go clean up…" from the other side, Ellie handed him a paper towel. I gulped as she turned to me.

"Thanks for coming, Chihiro-chan… I'll try to convince Keima it was an accident, but until then, I think you should go home…"

Fair enough… I had been a really rude house guest, so I did deserve that.

"El-chan, can you clean up what fell on the floor? I'll let Chihiro-chan out."

Wait, so this discussion continues?

After I had picked up my bag, she walked me out of the café entrance. Almost by the door was parked a blue motorbike, very similar to the one in my memory. I could feel my already fast heart rate go bumpy with fear, and I tried to walk as far around it as I could.

At the gate of the house, I turned and bowed as low as I could.

"I'm really sorry about what happened inside…"

"Don't worry about it," she replied in a voice really different from before, "even if it's just once, I enjoyed watching someone standing up to my son…" I hesitantly unfolded my body.

"Y-you're not mad?"

"Of course not… it was an accident. And in any case, it's not every day I get to see my stick-in-the-mud son gets food in his face."

She started laughing at the thought, but I didn't. I was still in the wrong… though I'll probably laugh about it at home.

I still wasn't assured, I was forgiven surprisingly easily, compared to what I did.

"At least you didn't send a torrent of cream around my cafe... or chased Keima around with a naginata..."

I guess that is true... I wonder why that image seemed so familiar...

"I'm glad you understand. I'll apologize to him again on Monday."

"There's no need… You've apologized twice already," I shrugged. She wasn't wrong, but I still felt bad about it.

"However, you could tell him something else…"

"Like what?" the recipe to the pie or something?

"You can explain to him why you offered to help El-chan, or why you wanted him to try your home made cooking so much…" she said pointedly. It took a moment before her implication sunk into my head, but it took even less than that for my cheeks to catch on fire.

"I-it's not like that," I shook my hands in my face, "Ellie worked really hard on this, and I wanted him to acknowledge that."

"Sure you did…" she closed the gate now that I'd left, "you still have your fringe clipped up."

I pulled the clip out and fluffed my fringe out. It probably looks like a mess now, but whatever…

I don't know if it was just me, but Katsuragi's mum just gave me a very weird look. I was afraid to ask, so I just thanked her and walked home.

On the trip home, it was like my head temperature kept jumping. I just couldn't get over the fact that Katsuragi's mother figured out I had a crush on her son before he did.

My God, am I lame!

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><p><strong>In the true ways of writing by the seat of your pants, I did not have a single clue this chapter was heading this way. I just wanted to add a little more of Elsie...<strong>

**Still, there'll be more Elsie next chapter, so whoo hoo!**

**BTW, koromogae is what they call the uniform switching day in Japan. It's on the first of June for Summer Uniform and the first of October for winter uniform.**

**Also, a naginata is a long-handled sword with a nearly straight blade which Samurais used to use in the Feudal Era.**

**There's no actual relevance to that line, but I'm just fond of references.**

**Anyhoo, I hope you enjoyed that. Please leave a review if you wanna say anything.**


	4. Maybe, I shouldn't lie

**Long time no see... Sorry for taking so long to get this update out, but it's holidays, and getting time to write is a nightmare. Still, I got to draw the cover image, so yay to that.**

**Still, this was a fun chapter. I hope you guys enjoy it as well.**

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><p>Ever made plans which blew up in your face? Apparently today is one of those days.<p>

To elaborate, after that not-so-horrible incident at the Katsuragi household, I called my cousin to see if he was free for the next day. He refused to come to the phone, but my aunt said she'd pass the message, but to her knowledge, he would be at home.

He didn't call back, so I took that as confirmation that we could come over.

Heck, my plans even extended to include Ayumi now…

If he's backing out of this now, why didn't he call me back earlier?! I'm already at Ayumi's place, which is only three blocks from his home!

"Can I talk to Keita?" I was near pleading with my Aunt now. Still, I did it in a low enough voice that Ellie and Ayumi couldn't hear me from the living room. I was by the entrance.

"Err… he says that he doesn't want to talk to you…"

What, is he mad with me? I didn't even do anything this time!

"Look, if he's home, I'm coming with Ellie and Ayumi… I'm not taking any excuses unless he gets on the phone now…"

That worked… after some muffled voices on their side, Keita got onto the other side.

"Finally! You better take responsibility for not calling me yesterday…"

"Look, it's not a good time… Can't I take a rain check on teaching you about music?" His voice sounded weird… not like a cold… just weird and scratchy.

"If it was me, sure… But I invited my two friends… You can't back out now!"

"Why not? If they live in Maijima, they can just come another weekend…" his voice suddenly jumped an octave. He cleared his throat.

"They're busy most of the time, and I'll look like a flake if I back out now! You're at home now, so can't you help us for a little bit…"

"No! My throat isn't feeling up for it," there was a slight squeak at the end. Suddenly, something occurred to me.

"Wait, is your voice breaking?" the hitch in his throat at that was an answer enough. I grinned… boys are quite self-conscious about that.

"Oooooh, I get it… I'll explain to my two super cute friends that my cousin's ba−"

"Oi! Don't put it like that!" Aah, that sounded just like a girl… The smile on my face got even bigger, if it was possible.

"But I will… Either they come over today, or they'll never want to come over…"

"But my voice sounds like shit… I don't want to introduce myself like that…"

"Then you don't have to… I'll tell them you've lost your voice, and you can use paper to talk to them…" He paused.

"Fine… but only for an hour…"

"Alright… you're only really helping Ellie, so that's fine…"

"You owe me!"

"You're the idiot who didn't answer to the message… I owe you nothing…" he laughed (read squeaked) on the other side.

"I liked you better when you didn't try contacting me…"

"If it's any consolation, I like you more now that you've hit puberty… You've become less of a perv…"

"Which reminds me: I'll see you soon, Baby…"

"Ugh… save it when your voice doesn't sound like nails on a chalkboard…" I flipped the phone shut, just as Ayumi was walking into the entrance.

"So shall we leave now?"

"Yeah, it's ten minutes away," I glanced down, and she was wearing sneakers under her knee-length shorts, "or two minutes, if you want to run…"

"Walking is just fine," she smiled, "I guess we should call Ellie."

"Yep," I walked in, where Ellie was staring at her half-drunk soda glass.

"This is really good," she commented, "what is this, Chihiro-san?"

"Have you never drunk coke before?" Ayumi added behind me. Ellie shook her head. I saw an opening there.

"Don't drink too much of that, Ellie… It'll drive you crazy…" I waved my arms spookily. Her already wide eyes started resembling saucers.

"Ca-crazy?" she looked at the fizzing glass.

"Yeah… the bubbles float to your head and slowly fizzes through your brain… If you have too much, you'll act different…" I gave a side glance at Ayumi. She just sighed… maybe at how gullible Ellie was, though probably at how mean I am.

"Ha-ha-how will I be different?"

"Nothing will be different, Ellie… She's just messing with you…" I was expecting Ayumi would put a damper to my fun, so I had a reply for that as well.

"Don't believe her, Ellie… She's had so much coke that she's been brainwashed…" I pulled Ellie off the couch, and she left her glass on the table.

"Bu-but Ayumi-san is completely normal…"

"She isn't…" I whispered, though loud enough that Ayumi could hear too, "all that coke has gone into her legs and arms… That is how she runs so fast and crashes hard enough to break a wall without hurting herself…"

"Aah… I see…" Ellie backed away from Ayumi and I considered this my victory. Well, it was my victory till Ayumi hit me upside the head with enough force for my head to lurch forward.

Gaaah! The whiplaaaash!

"That hurt, you know?"

"That's what you get for lying…" she turned around to Ellie, "it's not going to do anything to you, unlike what that idiot says…"

Still, Ellie left the rest of her soda on the table. Yay! More coke for me!

This day is turning up…

Throughout the walk, Ellie was still worried about the whole soda thing. I was just amused that she was worried about her brain melting and her limbs gaining super powers that she didn't notice how hyper she'd become.

I did her a favour by drinking the rest of her coke. Still, Ellie is so damn cute! I wish I could be like that.

When Keita opened the door, the first thing I noticed was the three inch shoot he'd made since I last saw him… Then I noticed his arms were wide open to give me a hug.

I put down his one arm and curled his other hand into a fist so I could give him a fistbump. He shrugged and took it.

Ayumi was right behind me, and she gave him a slightly more elaborate fist bump. Most likely, she'd learnt that from her brother.

Ellie, who was last in line for introductions, stared nervously at his fist.

"Just punch it… it's a form of greeting…" I heard Ayumi whisper.

She punched it… however, Ellie didn't get that it was supposed to be a soft punch so both Keita and Ellie turned away with red faces and sore knuckles.

It must've been especially bad for Keita, considering he couldn't say a word.

"Oh, right," I quickly shook my head, "Keita… Ayumi… Ellie… He's lost his voice, so bear with him…"

Keita scribbled a greeting onto the pad he'd left by the door. Even though I say scribble, his handwriting is really neat, so it was still very legible.

"You're not contagious, are you?" Ayumi asked. Makes sense, considering how bad it would be for her to get sick. Still, I smirked… the only thing which is contagious was his perviness.

Obviously, he shook his head.

"Don't let it worry you, Ayumi… it would be way worse if he was actually speaking," I laughed, remembering his sometimes rough, sometimes squeaky voice. I could feel his glare.

'Do you guys want anything to drink?' he wrote on the pad. I took off my sneakers and put them to the side.

"Nah, we just had coke at Ayumi's house," he completely ignored that and dragged me to the kitchen.

"How the hell am I going to teach anything when I can't speak?" he leaned against the fridge. Because he's gotten even taller now, trying to follow his head was a nightmare. I kept my eyes on my nails.

"Just draw the tabs or something… Besides, you're only teaching one person… Me and Ayumi just came to get tips and watch you…"

"If it's only for an hour…" he opened the kitchen door and looked out, "so I'm teaching that girl, right?"

"Yep, the one who punched you… She has your old bass guitar…" I snuck under his gorilla arms and stuck my head out the door. Ellie looked like she was crying while she rubbed her slightly red hand, while Ayumi rubbed her shoulder, "how do you feel having made a girl you've just met cry?"

"She's the one who punched me… I'm the one who should be crying…"

"Ever the manly man, huh, Keita?" I looked up… well… it was like up looking at a giraffe, so I gave up.

"Maaan, you have some really cute friends…" by this point, it seemed like Ayumi had made a joke, so Ellie looked a little bit more cheerful.

"I know, hey! When we start up the band, they'll definitely look great," I wish I could imagine it right now, but we're so far away from that image that it's like we'll never reach there.

"Though it kind of seems like you got the short end of the straw, looks wise…" I stomped on his foot, and he yelped. I whistled innocently, but it wasn't even like anyone else was in the room to have done it.

Don't get me wrong… it's not that I like Keita, but having someone who'd willingly hit on me was a huge ego booster. At least I could say someone liked me… But now he's perving on the other girls.

"Don't be like that, Chihiro… " he pointed his thumb back to them, "they're just out of my league…"

He yelped when I kicked his shin. I stalked off.

It's weird… he has no reason to like me, and I've been rejecting his advances all the time, so why does he still try?

"I've never gotten you at all… It doesn't seem like you like me like that, so why do you still act like such a weirdo?" By this point, we were back in the kitchen. He gave up watching me and opened the deep freezer.

"True, you haven't given me much of a reason… I guess… I just didn't want you to think you were an ugly bitch…"

Ugly bitch? That stung.

"His words, not mine…" he added, before digging into the freezer.

"Whose words?"

"That bastard from the hospital… I heard it through the door…" he pulled out a box, "do you think your friends would want popsicles?"

"Yeah, it is pretty hot today… wait, what hospital?"

"I'll take a couple then… I'm surprised you'd forget… he was someone who was visiting after you broke your ribs in that biking accident…"

Did that really happen? I don't remember a single thing like that…

"We should go…" he reminded me. We have been here for a good five minutes now… And considering he can't talk, we shouldn't need to take that long… Unless we were doing something else…

Yelgh! I shook my head.

I followed him out after I shut the deep freezer.

Still… my cousin isn't completely icky… puberty hit him a little late, and he's grown half a foot over the last two months. And just to think he was shorter me at the beginning of this year.

He stubbed his toe on the table out the front, and squeaked. That's the best he could do, now that he was in ear shot of the rest of the girls.

"You poor baby, you," I patted his shoulder. He glared at me, "Anyhoo, you'll get over it… let's study now…" I picked up the fallen popsicles and gave them to Ayumi and Ellie, before tearing the wrapper on the last one. In that time, Keita found his scrap paper and marker.

'We'll go work in the living room, over there,' he pointed at the door. Unlike the last couple of times I'd been there, there was no Vii attached to the TV.

Not that we're here to play games anyway… That kinda makes me sad.

After we finished our cold snacks, the lessons began.

Keita took my advice, and drew the tabs on the paper. That was for the best, because Ellie was still embarrassed about the fistbump thing, and she barely looked him in the face.

Of course, the fun began when Ellie attempted playing the tabs. Even though it was four strings, she still had difficulty organising her fingers.

"It's like this!" Keita said, apparently forgetting that he was supposed to have lost his voice. Luckily, Ellie seemed to have forgotten that fact in her own nervousness, and Ayumi right eyebrow flew up. Keita put his hand on Ellie's, which was fumbling around the neck of the instrument. Then it got even funnier.

"Waa…" she looked between their hands and his face, "wha-wha-what are you doing?"

Wooow… people can get berry coloured…

"He's just trying to show you how to hold your hands, Ellie!" Ayumi defended.

"Yeah, Ellie, he's not trying anything funny at all!" I added, but the damage was already done… Keita's face also turned a light pink and he lifted his hand and jumped away.

"But this seems just like Nii-sama's conquests…"

Nii-sama's conquests? What the hell is that supposed to mean?

"Conquest?" Ayumi asked. Ellie, despite being red-faced and teary, still managed to reply.

"Y-you know… like da-dating and kissing…"

The room, which had been dropping in temperature before, seemed to have reached an all new low. Ayumi started blushing as well and Keita looked about ready to bolt. I was just bemused at the whole scene.

"Look, none of that weird shit is happening here! We're just here to learn about bass guitar!"

"Bu-but…" Ellie looked at Keita nervously. She really wasn't getting it…

"Ellie, it's nothing like what you're thinking!" but no matter what anyone said, Ellie probably wouldn't be assured. She needed 100 percent assurance.

"Keita is gay!"

The three of them stared at me… the first two confused, and the last one mad… Still, that was the 100 percent I was looking for.

"Gay?" Ellie asked. Had she never heard the phrase before?

"You know… he likes bo— Waah!"

Yep, that was me getting pulled out of the living room by Keita.

"What the hell was that!?" he hissed once we were at the entrance.

"Well, I'm sorry, but she needed the assurance that you weren't trying to hit on her!" I hissed right back.

"I had no intention of that!" he squeaked.

"I know… Ellie's way out of your league, even if you were…"

"Oi!"

"Shut up!" I held my one hand up and felt in my pocket of my light jacket with the other. It was vibrating. I glanced at the ID before picking up.

"Hi… Oka-san…"

"Are you free right now, Chihiro?" she got straight to the point.

"I'm actually with some friends right now…" suddenly, a vindictive look came on Keita's face. I mouthed 'no' and started walking back.

"Darling, who is that!?" Keita called with a slightly deeper voice, moving closer to the mouthpiece. I blanched.

"Chihiro, who was that?" my mother's voice was stern. I shoved Keita back.

"It was Keita, Oka-san! He's just messing around!" while I was speaking the truth, my voice was still hysterical. Keita was silently laughing.

"Don't be like that, Darling… Just come back to be–oof!" I kicked him in the stomach.

"It doesn't sound like Keita…" Oka-san replied.

"I swear, he's just joking! I'm not with any boyfriend or anything!" by now, my voice must've been 10 tones too high, and I could feel my palms getting sweaty. Keita, who'd fallen to the ground, was silently laughing his ass off.

"Well, I knew at some point that you'd be old enough for that…" for the life of me, I couldn't read her tone at all, "I guess we need to have _the talk_ now…"

No! No! Anything but that!

"No! We don't have to!" I replied, but regardless how much I willed against it, I could feel blood rushing up to my face.

"I know they teach you at school, but it's important to have a one-on-one chat about this kind of thing…"

"But I don't neeeed anything!"

"I know you're embarrassed, but avoiding this topic can lead to misunderstandings and mis–"

"NOOO! The only misunderstanding here is nothing is happening!"

If I wasn't mortified enough already, Ayumi and Ellie heard my screaming and came into the entrance. If sixteen years of friendship taught her anything, it was that whatever was happening here was good enough teasing material for the rest of eternity.

"So what's happening _heeere_?" she asked Keita. I kicked Keita on the shin so he wouldn't reply.

"Nothing is happening here," I hissed, but a drop of sweat trickled down the side of my head.

"Is someone else there?" Oka-san heard the change in my voice.

"Yeah, Ayumi…" it was a relief… I couldn't be doing anything weird with her around. She'd have to drop it now.

"Oh, so it's a threeso–"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Despite the fact that it was only me who could hear my mother, both Ayumi and Keita were dying on the floor. If this didn't stop soon, they'd be dead for another reason.

"Shut up!" I screamed, before remembering that I was still on the phone, "not you, Oka-san… Please just drop it!"

"Alright… it's your business, not mine…"

"There. Is. No. business, Oka-san!" I replied through gritted teeth, "why are you calling?"

"I have today off, so I figured we should get that guitar you wanted… but you seem a little busy…" I sighed. Now that I'd calmed down after screaming and shouting, me taking the bait just seemed really stupid. My mother, despite being anal-retentive, has a great sense of humour.

"I'll ditch these losers anytime," I eyed both Ayumi and Keita, who burst into laughter again, "let's meet at… Inazumart… in 45 minutes…" I had to say the last part louder to speak over my stupid friends.

"Alright, so you can wrap up on your side too… don't have too much fun…"

"Right…" I sighed… I have comebacks for everything, yet I had nothing to say here…

Probably because she's my mother, so I can't be too rude.

"Bye…"

"Bye bye," I ended the call and started glaring.

"What the hell, Keita!?"

"It's payback…" he grinned, "revenge is best served by your mother!"

I smiled… it was kind of funny, if you get over the mortification.

"It is, hey," I turned around to Ellie, who was the only one not joining in the action, "Ellie, we're going, so pick up your guitar," She nodded and walked off.

I raised my voice for the next word, "Oba-san!"

"Yes, Chihiro-chan," she came out of her room and stood by the upstairs banister.

I sent him a crafty smile, and he glared.

'You wouldn't dare,' his eyes said. Oh, I so would…

I'm pretty sure I heard the blood from his head trickle down at the thought of whatever blackmail I could use now.

That satisfied me enough.

"Thanks for letting us come over on such short notice… I hope that you don't mind that we had some popsicles," she waved her hand.

"It's no trouble at all… Are you going already?"

"I'm afraid so… my mother needs me urgently, so we'll wrap this visit up now."

"That's understandable… I hope you can come back soon…"

"I'll try. Bye then."

Both Ellie and Ayumi bowed slightly in thanks before they put their outdoor shoes back on. Keita walked us to the outside gate.

"Thanks…" he said, once his mother was out of earshot.

"I just wanted to see you squirm a bit," I replied, "besides, you did help us today… I'd be a very ungrateful guest if I got you grounded for a month."

"Who was on the phone, Chihiro-san?" Ellie asked belatedly. Both Keita and Ayumi have an advantage, because they've known me forever, but Ellie was both innocent and unfamiliar at how things are with me…

"It was just my mother…"

"But why did keep screaming and kicking Keita-san?"

"Umm…"

"That one was my fault…" Keita rubbed the back of his neck, "I said something that caused a misunderstanding…"

"Aaah… Alright then…" then something else occurred to her, "though why is Keita-kun speaking now?"

"His cold got better…"

"See, his voice still sounds a little weird, because it isn't back perfectly…" Ayumi added.

By this point, we were outside the main gate. We were interrupted by a loud yell and a crash of glass.

"What was that?" Ayumi asked, looking around. It didn't sound that close.

"Our neighbours… apparently the son brought his girlfriend to live with his family, so this kind of fighting is normal…"

Weird…

"Well, I guess we better go now… Thanks…"

"This was fun," Ayumi agreed… obviously it was fun for her…

"Thanks for trying to help me," Ellie added, pulling both straps of the case over her back, "I'm sorry that I punched you… and that I screamed at you when you were trying to help me," her cheeks turned a pink hue.

"It's fine… Though wait here one second…" Keita quickly ran inside and returned with his pad and markers.

"Bass can basically be summed up to this," he easily drew a diagram which I probably wouldn't be able to replicate in my life, "just try to play the notes here and it'll get easier."

He pulled out the sheet and handed it to her.

"Thanks," she smiled that cute smile of hers, but somehow, and just like how it warmed my heart, I could see whatever misgivings Keita had about her melt off his face.

Now, if only Keita could keep that smile all the time...

"Bye," he held out a fist at Ellie. Learning from before, she punched it lightly.

"I hope you get better, Keita-san."

He remembered the cold he was supposed to have and coughed unconvincingly.

"Right..."

"So we'll be off then," I steered Ellie away, "thanks for today, Keita."

"Yeah, I'll try to remember all those tips," Ayumi nudged her guitar. I'm pretty sure it was out of politenesss she said that, because I have no memory of him teaching her anything.

As we were walking back, Ayumi stepped in next to me.

"He didn't have a cold, did he?"

"Nah," I laughed, "the only sickness he's suffering right now is puberty..."

"I figured... Aniki kinda got like that as well..."

"Chihiro-saaan, Ayumi-saan... What are you talking about?"

Ayumi shot me a smile.

"Nothing really... he just drank too much coke..." surprisingly, it was Ayumi who said that.

"Wa-will he be alright?"

"Don't let it bother you... More importantly, we have to go get that guitar now!"

"You excited, Chihiro?"

"Hell yeah! And it's gonna be cuter than yours!"

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><p><strong>Man, now the pacing issues begin. I'll probably ditch the one day a chapter setting, because this'll go on forever, otherwise.<strong>

**Anyhoo, I hope you enjoyed this.**


	5. Maybe, I'm just weird

**First things, I'm really sorry at how long it took for this update. It wasn't writer's block, but my head has been running like crazy, and I've written this chapter thrice before I decided on something... I really am sorry, and I'll get to the next chapter a bit faster, hopefully.**

**Anyhoo, next chapter should cover the 4 Girls and an Idol chapters, so please stay tuned.**

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><p>On Monday, it was back to the same old stuff. Homeroom, me dozing through the rest of my lessons… me begging Miyako for notes after class was done…<p>

Then came lunch, the only period I'm always awake for, regardless of what day it is. In Girls Walker, they had a double spread on Yuya Mutsushita, so you can bet I was drooling over him…

"Chihiro…" my eyes narrowed… who dare disturb me while I'm staring at cute celebrities? Then the voice called me again.

"Yeah," I lowered my magazine. Then I noticed Katsuragi was looking over his shoulder at me.

Why I didn't recognize that voice was a mystery to me as well. I kinda figured he wouldn't talk to me after that pie incident over the weekend.

But even before then, Katsuragi never started a conversation with anyone, least of all, me… and especially after that pie…

Revenge?

I considered picking up my magazine and just ignoring him, but I was curious, even if it was some kind of trap. I blocked the most of my face behind my book, just in case.

"I'm not going to get something thrown in my face if I move my magazine, right?" I peered over, but his hands were empty, save his PFP. Not to mention, I was far enough from where he was sitting that I could probably dodge anything he'd throw, anyway.

"No, it's not like that…" he scratched his ear, which I noticed was becoming slightly pinker, "I… I wanted to apologize…"

"For what?" It's not like he threw a pie in my face, did he?

"Elsie explained that you were just helping her, and that it was just an accident, so I reacted very badly…" I was taken aback at the look of remorse on his face.

Heck, I was taken aback at how he had a PFP in his hand and he wasn't playing a game.

I was also taken aback at how he had a face which wasn't a scowl or completely blank.

Man, why do I like this guy? Just seeing him show human emotions confuses me.

"It's alright," I shrugged, "it's not like I haven't given you any reason to distrust me…"

He didn't say anything for a moment which just sparked off my nervousness. I opened my magazine and picked up my juice box, so at least I could look busy.

"Alright… you should get back to your game now…" I took a sip of the cool liquid.

"But Ka-san said you had something to tell me as well…"

Good news… I didn't spray anyone with juice, because my magazine took the brunt of my spit-take.

Sorry, Yuya-chan…

I pulled out tissues and mopped it up best as I could. Still, the page was ruined… My heart was screaming and wailing. Though most likely, at what Katsuragi said.

Damn you, Katsuragi-san!

I imagined throwing my magazine at her head, but she just dodged easily and shot me a thumbs-up.

"Th-there wasn't anything in particular I had to say…" the mess gave me an excuse to not look him in the face.

"Even if it's something stupid, I'll listen…" my eyes flitted up, and he actually had a really nice look on his face… Like he was concerned, "more often than not, it's the stupid things that worry people…"

"It's not…"

Then it occurred to me, as I was cleaning the juice I spat up with a wet pocket tissue… I have done this way too many times…

Not spat out what I was drinking… just stupid stuff in general. Like following Mappy's plans… like slamming my head on my desk multiple times… like running away from a game which I could've won…

I've embarrassed myself time and time again… and for what? To save face? It's bloody ironic…

It is stupid! It'd bad enough that I like him, but since then, I've been acting even more stupid trying to hide it.

"Chihiro?"

I pushed myself up, my head pulsing slightly.

"You're right, this is stupid," my fingers were trembling, despite the hard grip I had on either side of the desk, "Ka-katsuragi..." I forced my eyes off the desk.

"Yeah?" he replied, expectantly.

"L-li…" I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that I'd get transported to some far off place, because I couldn't say it. I took a hard breath that hurt my throat.

"I li−"

"Hot Pot!" came Miyako's voice from behind me.

"Hot pot?" Katsuragi repeated.

"Yeah, Chihiro said she wants to eat from a hot pot soon…"

"And you had to stand up to tell me that?" I loosened my death grip and sat down slowly, both relieved and disappointed.

"Yeah, I've really been wanting that…" I said in a small voice.

"You should ask your mother to make some if you want it so much…" his chair scraped as he settled himself back into his seat. After the button clicking began, I knew this attempt was lost.

Gaah, that was so lame! I wanna die!

I really wanted to go to the bathroom to wash my face and slap some kind of sense into myself, but that two minute conversation of bloody NOTHING had zapped the energy out of me.

Not to mention, I don't even know what made sense anymore.

Then I'll need to explain this to Miyako… I don't even know if I'm mad or glad that she interrupted me… I probably wasn't ready to say it anyway, considering how much my tongue slipped on it…

The only reason I wasn't slamming my head against the table was because it was too sticky.

It took a few moments before my brain's autopilot turned on and I went to the bathroom to get some wet tissue and throw my magazine away. It gave me plenty of time to scream at my head and induce a proper headache.

Ugh…

The rest of my day, I forced myself to take notes. It helped, but I could still feel the shame bubbling in my stomach and my head pulsing.

Truly, the only time I really felt better was when I got home.

As soon as I opened my room door, my new amp and guitar popped into my vision, and whatever crap had gone on at school melted away. Now, it was just me and my guitar…

God, she is beautiful…

I wasn't sure why my head already decided my guitar was a girl, but she just was… it probably had to do with how pink my guitar was.

I plopped down on the ground in front of the bed and just started strumming the strings. That sound really was relaxing, considering what today had been like.

Still, after a few minutes, my aimless playing just got boring, so I raised my phone volume and turned on some song. I shut my eyes and tried to catch the drum beats.

Dhuck… dhuck… dhuck… dhuck…

My hands started flicking over the strings in time with those beats.

I quickly got up and grabbed a pick from inside my desk drawer, because I just thought up something.

I should just hum and strum to the music and see how that feels.

I did that for a couple songs, and I have to say… the pick is moving much more smoothly than when I started. I must be getting better.

Maybe music is my calling… I'm getting better at this so fast…

Unfortunately, the music stopped when reality called…

No, seriously… my phone's mp3 stopped when it started ringing…

Miyako… I just ignored it, but my stomach was jumping and I felt faint…

"Guitar… guitar…" I picked a couple of notes exuberantly, but the result was the same… my music rush was over and all my mind could think of was what happened at lunch…

"Damn you, Miyako," I sang along with my angry playing. I still wasn't willing to let of my guitar.

The ringing stopped. I sighed in relief and tried to get back into the mood.

My phone dinged. It was a message from Miyako.

"I'm outside your house, and I could hear your phone. There's no point hiding."

Geh, I should've used headphones…

I ducked and crawled out onto the balcony. It was still light out, and as she had said, Miyako was on the other side of the gate. I got onto my feet.

"What are you, a stalker?" she laughed.

"Funnily, not the first time I've heard that from you…" she adjusted her bag, "can I come in?"

"Eh, you're going to vault over the gate and break into my house anyway… I'll let you in," I pulled the guitar strap off my back and lay her on the bed.

Truth is, I have no clue what she'd even want to say… Most likely, she'd want to know why I lost my head and fell for the biggest dweeb in school… if she even cares enough…

Yeah, Miyako isn't the romantic type at all… what would she even want to talk about?

"Do you want something to drink?" I asked as she took off her shoes.

"No thanks… I just came here on my way home… I'll be brief."

"On your way home," I scoffed. Her house is even further than Ayumi's, and my house is definitely not en route to there. Whatever she had to say must be pretty important, "though it's fine… let's go to my room."

This house is probably empty, but it's better safe than sorry. She sat on my bed and I took the chair, which I swiveled so I was looking at her.

"So what's up?" I tried not to look too curious…

"I just wanted to talk about- Oh, is that a new guitar?" She patted her. My guard slid down slightly because music was always a safe subject.

"Yeah, just got it yesterday…" I sighed, "though at a higher price…"

"It can't have been that bad…" still, her eyes boggled when I told her the price.

"Ayumi's 50 grand one sounds cheap now…"

"Yeah, Oka-san only agreed to this if I got a part-time job over the holidays and paid for the difference…" I leaned back on my swivel chair, "that's gonna be annoying!"

"Working part-time isn't bad, actually… I help at my parent's shop over the holidays for extra allowance…"

"Still, at least you get something out of it… my mother'll take most of the money I earn… not to mention, I don't even like working…"

"Well, you did get a cool guitar out of it… My keyboard is probably half my age…"

I half-nodded. She did have a point.

"In any case, I actually came to talk about this band thing… when will we start practicing?"

That was a very Miyako like question, and I was feeling a little relieved. I doubt Miyako even cared about what happened today. What was I even getting nervous about?

"Well, you guys are busy after school, so how about this weekend… or do you guys have Track on Saturdays as well?" She shook her head.

"Though we should check with Elsie as well… she might be busy…"

"Yeah, that's true… maybe we should discuss it tomorrow at school…"

"Sounds like a good idea… We'll also need to find a location as well…" I watched her for a few moments before she stood up, "that's all, really…"

"When you said brief, you really meant it…" she smiled.

"What, expecting a long grilling about what happened at lunch today?"

"Kinda, yeah…" I was so surprised at her perceptiveness that I forgot to be embarrassed at that reminder.

"Well, rest assured, it's none of my business what you feel about him or what you do…" somehow, that calmed me… she wouldn't make a big deal about it.

She pulled her school bag over her shoulder. Still, if it wasn't her business, why interfere?

"Then why did you stop me?"

"Consider it a service from your friend," her green eyes twinkled, "confessing in a classroom with so many people is really lame… like confessing at karaoke or at a family restaurant…"

"Oooh…" her point sank in, and she really was right. It may be something I'd regret if I'd actually gone through with it, "then it probably was a good thing… Thanks…"

"Though I was wondering…" she looked down, "did something happen between you two?"

My eyebrow shot up… despite it not being her business, she was still curious?

"No… why would you think that?"

"Just… it seems like you've always disliked him… that was pretty surprising, even for me… I was wondering if you rem… if something happened…"

"Nah," I spun my seat around again, "I basically only see him in class, so nothing's happened…"

"Alright, that makes sense… so you have no reason for liking him…"

Not that I've really thought about it too much, but that is pretty much on the dot… I don't really know him well enough… nor was there any physical reasons for me liking him… he was moderately cute at best, and he doesn't even talk to anyone nicely… then why?

"I don't have a reason why I like him…" my heels bumped against my chair legs as my spinning slowed down, "I just do…"

Yeah, it's not like I chose to like him, anyway.

"Then it's definitely a good thing that you didn't tell Katsuragi…" I shot her a questioning look, "rather, let me put it like this…" she turned around and plopped back onto the bed.

"Basically," she started, "I don't think this'll last long."

"Exactly!" I slapped my hands on my thighs. This was a point which I've brought up, both to my head and Mappy. My agreement seemed to fuel her.

"You don't have a reason to like him," I nodded, "also, you don't get along," I nodded again, "so getting to know him better wouldn't give you any more reason to like him," and again, "so actually, it won't take long for the crush to wear off…"

"It won't?"

"Yeah, and once it's done, you'll probably dislike him…" my bobble-head impression slowed at that last phrase…

"I'll dislike him?"

"Well, he doesn't really have the qualities you like, so yeah…" she lifted herself up, "that's the end of Miyako-chan's impromptu love counseling…"

"Oh yeah, should I let you out?" I stood up, dazed. Miyako put a hand on my head and pushed me back down, which gave me a slight static shock.

"Don't worry, I'll let myself out…" she pointed at the balcony, "I could just jump out of there…" she grinned at my shocked face.

"Please use the door," she pouted.

When I blinked though, the weirdest thing happened… light blue bubbles appeared in my vision, like I'd been staring at the sun too long… except they'd normally be yellow…

As soon as I opened my eyes again, they were gone.

"You alright, Chihiro?"

"Err, yeah…" I stood up, "I should stop being a lazy shmuck though…"

She still had a concerned look on her face for the entire time I walked her out. More weirdly, yellow fluffy orbs kept flashing in and out my vision…

"You look a bit pale," Miyako remarked, once she was outside the gate, "you should probably get some sleep…"

"Yeah, maybe…" I sighed, "I'll see you tomorrow, Miyako."

"Bye- bye… don't worry, I won't mention that thing to Ayumi…" Geh, I hadn't even thought about that…

"Thanks," my voice was weak. She smiled and started walking back home.

My brain is really all over the place right now… like I had been worried about Miyako then I wasn't worried about Miyako… then those weird things which kept popping up when my eyes closed…

I shut my eyes deliberately, but nothing appeared.

Great, so they've stopped…

I moved my guitar back to her case before throwing myself face first, into my pillow. At least, now those weird light things are gone, I can actually think about what Miyako had said.

"I'll hate him, huh?"

True, the way he acts makes it pretty easy to dislike him, but it is a little admirable too… most of the teachers don't have any qualms with him playing, because he gets good marks… also, because everyone knows he's weird, any outbursts or unexpected toilet breaks are completely ignored.

Frankly, as he is, he has the entire school wrapped around his pinky… just like any popular guy would… could that be why I like him?

Haah, no way! He isn't popular… he's infamous! Like Hitler!

Still, despite that comparison, I can't imagine hating Katsuragi… he's weird, and I don't really want to like him, but he isn't a bad guy…

He can be nice… just this morning, he forgave me…

Though I had apologized twice, so it isn't much…

Eeeh, considering how half-hearted my feelings are, it's no wonder Miyako thinks I'll get over it soon…

It will be anti-climatic when that does happen though…

I got up once the heat started becoming too much. It was about time I started preparing for the term tests anyway.

I went to the bathroom to splash my face so I could cool down and wake up a little, because, God knows how sleepy I'm going to get with my books open.

In the mirror, though, all I could notice were those bubbles, this time a dull purple

"Eh, I'm imagining this…" the bubbles flashed red at the edges. I stared at the mirror, but there really was nothing there. For the millisecond where my eyes were closed, the slight orbs were only visible then.

What are those? Tamayura?

I'm not in the sun, and they're not even the right colour for them to be sun reflections.

I watched my reflection behind closed eyes, where the violet bubbles floated. Now that I was actually paying attention, the bubbles actually disappeared once it past what I could only imagine was my outline… so it has something to do with me…

Or people… I think when I was looking at Miyako, I could see them too…

The colour started morphing into a bright yellow…

Wha-what the hell is this? A hallucination…

The orbs slowly darkened to an orange.

I slowly looked down and walked back to my room, my heart beating faster than my clutch pencil during math.

"My brain is alright… I am not seeing stuff…" I tried to assure myself, taking deep breaths, "let me just get some water, and those bubbles will go away…"

"Oh yes, there's also pudding in the fridge…" that thought was strangely calming for me… pudding is great! I could have pudding for breakfast…

"No pudding!?" I was outraged when I opened the fridge. Chitose was in the room when I turned around, "did you eat the pudding?"

"No!" he shook his hands, when I blinked, I could see light blue bubbles lined in red.

"I find that a little hard to believe…" I wasn't convinced, because my brother was both a terrible liar, and he was the only one home. I'd seen the pudding when I'd came into the kitchen earlier.

But considering how weird that orb situation was, it occurred to me that the lining was usually clear… why red?

"Did… did you play soccer today?" I asked.

"Of course…" the lining of the bubbles changed to green.

Gaah! I have a bloody lie detector in my head…

Wait, I have a lie detector in my head… suddenly, the whole prospect stopped scaring me…

I was like a hero from some show… with this kind of ability, I could go fight crime and catch criminals…

This was awesome!

There was a loud beep behind me. Chitose was looking at his phone, so he must've gotten some mail.

The light blue bubble dulled down to a grey at the message.

"Nee-chan…" he muttered, lowering his phone with shaking hands, "Ka-san says we have to start studying today…"

"Sure, later…" I started walking off. I had to tell Ayumi of my new found powers now… then I'd go visit her and grill her about who she likes…

Waah, I can't wait!

"Nee-chan," he grabbed my jacket, "Ka-san is coming home in ten minutes, and if we're not studying, we're both grounded forever…"

"Come on! I have things to do!" I groaned. If this was an anime, the threat for eternal grounding would not be a problem.

I should be changing lives and coaxing out other people's secrets, dammit!

"Nee, Chitose…" he looked up at me, "do you like Tomoko-chan?"

"No way," he laughed. I was just disappointed that there wasn't a shred of a lie there… he's still too young to be crushing on girls.

"Now let's go study, Nee-chan… we don't want to get in trouble…"

So, instead of doing something fun, like learning the limits to my new powers or even using them for something, I was in front of my Japanese History book, spinning my pen between my fingers. True to my mother's threat, she did some and make sure we were studying. No eternal groundings as of yet, but I was still scared to even leave my table, because my mother has ears of a bat.

I opened my desk drawer, looking for an eraser, when I noticed something was glowing. I pulled it closer, when I noticed it was the pair of useless scissors which had been sitting in there for god knows how long. No eraser, though…

"Gah, I'm sick and tired of this!"

Suddenly, Katsuragi's face appeared in my mind, his hair wet with rain, and an angry look on his face. The distance closed, and I could feel a warm, soft pressure against my lips.

"Waah!" I slipped off my chair, my nose breaking my fall.

"Ow ow ow ow!" I sat up and held my nose, but luckily, it didn't seem to be bleeding.

"Chihiro, are you alright?" the room door bust open, and my mother came in. Once she noted that I was fine, the lecture about sleeping on my notes began… I sighed, but nodded along whenever it felt appropriate.

Still, I could feel myself chewing on my lower lip, which wasn't a normal habit of mine. It was like my mouth had gotten pins and needles, and that was the only thing which would calm them down.

Wait, those bubbles are gone…

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! My pooooweeeers!

"Are you listening to me, Chihiro?"

Then, the lecture for rudeness and inattentiveness began. She only left ten minutes later after I'd stopped her mid rant, reminding her that I still had to study.

Like hell I'd study, though… my head was still whirring.

First, I randomly start seeing stuff… after that, I start having daydreams about Katsuragi… that's just weird!

I know I'm not the most grounded person, but my daydreams usually are never that specific… nor do they ever revolve around Katsuragi…

I always assumed it was because the only thing he does is play games, so I can't imagine him in any other role… it could also be that I can't imagine him in a romantic hero role, even though I do like him

So that now I can imagine him… does it mean that I could imagine seeing myself with him… or is it that he's been reduced to the same level as my last number of crushes?

What a weird afternoon… maybe I am more of a space case than I thought I was… supernatural powers… the hell?

I bet there was something in the pudding… did I even eat the pudding?

* * *

><p>At lunch on Tuesday, Ellie's whimpering disturbed my second take on reading Girl's Walker (I brought a new one, alright). I glanced to my left. As it appeared, Ayumi seemed to be interrogating her on something.<p>

"What's happening here?"

"I was just asking Ellie what she thought of your cousin…" I shrugged.

"I was contemplating it before, but I doubt she likes him…" I flipped to the next page. Ayumi pulled a face.

"But Ellie doesn't show any interest to the guys in this class… I was hoping there'd at least be something interesting with Keita-kun…"

"Keita-kun?" Miyako asked.

"My cousin… he was helping Ellie with the bass on Sunday."

"Oh, anything worth noting?" Ayumi laughed.

"I'm pretty sure he fell for that million watt smile she gave him at the end…"

"He put his hand over hers to teach her…" I added.

Miyako's smiled got bigger at those words.

"Geez, Ayumi-san… Chihiro-san…" Ellie whined, still red-faced, "you've got it all wrong!"

"Though you shoulda seen it," Ayumi put a hand on Miyako's shoulder, "they were having such a moment when we were leaving…"

"Yeah… with those sweet, shy smiles and those fist bumps… you could see the flowers in the background…"

"That sounds like fun… so they had a good thing going?"

"Yeah," Ayumi closed off, but Ellie still wasn't happy…

"But I don't like Keita-san!" she banged her fists on the desk.

"Hmm?" an entirely different voice intruded the conversation. The four of us turned back to the front of the room, where Katsuragi was looking at us.

"What?" Ayumi sniped, her face darkening.

"I heard my name…" he looked at the sandwich he had in his hands… most likely, he had passed us on the way back to his seat. It took a second to sink in why he heard that.

"No one here calls you by your first name, Katsuragi."

"Someone has a bit of a big head, eh, Otamega…"

He finished the route back to his seat, but from the back, I could tell his ears were red from embarrassment. I had to hide a smile behind my magazine.

"He really can be cute..." I turned back to everyone, who were giving me strange looks.

Geh, I said that out loud, didn't I?

"Y-yeah… Keita is usually pretty annoying, but when Ellie was talking with him, he really was quite cute…"

"Eh, you're crushing on your cousin?" Ayumi's hand rose to her mouth in mock shock.

"No way!" I flapped off her words.

"It could be worse… it could be a step-brother… or a real brother…" Both me and Ayumi gave Miyako a look. She was just not helping.

"Alright, change of topic," Ayumi announced, "did anyone hear Kanon-chan's new song?"

"_Omoi wa Rain Rain_, right?" Ellie was more excited for this conversation.

"It's way slower than her usual songs, hey?"

"Still, I wouldn't mind sharing an umbrella with a cute guy…" I remarked.

"If it has something to do with cute guys, Chihiro-san would do anything…" I was appalled… I'd expect something like that from Ayumi, but never Ellie…

"Eh, Ellie, I'm not that shallow… Stop corrupting her, Ayumi…"

"Hey, I'm not the one with a book of cute guys…"

"I don't have it anymore… I donated it to some girls in middle school before Golden Week…"

Still, it didn't stop them all from laughing.

* * *

><p>The rest of the week went on like normal… now that everyone was getting a little better at using their instruments, we had made plans on Saturday to go to this studio and practice as a group once school was done. Still, before then, I had someone who I wanted to introduce my guitar to.<p>

Which is why, on Friday afternoon, I slid into the Student council room like a rock star.

"Chihiro-san," the Prez greeted me, "I see you have company," he nodded at the guitar.

"Yep," I got back onto my feet, "isn't she a beaut?" He was just about to stroke the smooth basswood body, but I snatched it away, "No touchies!"

"Aww, why not?

"Coz you're a guy… you'll make her feel self-conscious," he pulled his hands back apologetically.

"Sorry about that… Though does she have a name?"

That was something I'd actually been thinking about. Since I'd already decided my guitar was a girl, it was inevitable that she'd need a name. Still, it was childish…

I've brought my guitar to school since Tuesday, but I've been careful to refer to her without any kind of gender, because I still was a little bit embarrassed. It would really suck if people thought of me as more childish than what I already appear.

"Not really… I suck at giving names," I admitted. That was part of the reason as well.

Now, if I was so worried about people thinking of me as childish, why would I be saying all this to the school president, who's a cute guy, older than me, and nowhere near as close to me as my friends from class? Those may be the reasons, actually.

He was actually one of the guys I confessed to when I was still doing that whole thing, and somehow, within five minutes, he read me like a book. He's both perceptive and sensitive, so he's the perfect guy to talk to about this kind of stuff.

I lie… he's the perfect guy to talk about anything with… I could go from morose to completely cheerful and silly, and he wouldn't bat an eyelid. That's why he's the closest thing I have to a confidante.

"Hmm, what if I thought of a name?" He motioned for me to sit, which I did, after I put my guitar back into her case.

"I'll listen…" I replied. He poured some tea into a cup and pushed it towards me. He shrugged.

"I don't have anything in mind now, but I'll send you a mail if I think of a name which suits her," he swirled a spoon in his own cup, "is something bothering you?"

Right on the bat, as usual…

"Do you think I'm childish?"

"Yes," he didn't skip a beat, which amused me, "but not in a bad way… you're just very expressive, which is nice…"

"I also do stupid stuff like sliding into rooms and putting chocolate into tea…" I reminded him.

"Yep, those too…" he chuckled, "but you're like that to everyone…"

"I'm not!" I disagreed, "I don't tell everyone about how my guitar is a girl…"

"Still, you sometimes walk backwards when you're talking to people and you'll usually sit on your table before class starts…" he tapped his thin glasses frame, "in fact, I'd actually say you act more mature here…"

"I do?" I tried to think back, but it wasn't really coming to my head, "have you been stalking me?"

"I just see you often…" he shrugged, "and half of the time, you wave to me, so by that count, you'd be stalking me as well…"

"Point taken," I leaned on my right hand, "though you're pretty tall… you can't blame me for seeing you."

"Right…" the conversation dwindled as we drank our tea, of which mines definitely didn't have chocolate. Gah, that was gross stuff!

"Say…" his light brown eyes peered over his glasses, "isn't it hot with that undershirt?" I hadn't given it much thought, but in this heat, he must be burning in that long-sleeved shirt.

"I get colds often, so I have to dress warmly…" he replied, his eyes drifting back to his tea, "which reminds me… are you going to write that song you were so excited for?"

"That was a few weeks ago, you know?" I lowered my head slowly, "but no, my lyrics were horrible…"

They really were… I had to save face by telling everyone that Ellie was singing it, which was a real dick move. Both Nanas would have been disappointed if they heard that.

"So, my leadership skills were horrible…" he scoffed, "doesn't mean they didn't get better."

"Even still, they're super bad! And I don't have anything I want to sing about…"

"Then sing about how blue the sky is and how you're so sleepy… that's music, you know?"

Behind those rims, his eyes were flashing with a passion that I even caught it…

"Yeah!" I banged my fist on the table, "I'm gonna write a song!"

"You do that!" He agreed, "Also, please don't do that again…" I noticed the tea which had spilled out of the saucer.

"Sorry 'bout that…" I scratched my head, "yeah, the world just wasn't ready for my food poisoning song…"

"You have a food poisoning song?" Crap!

"No… no way…"

"Then why's your face red?"

"Sha-shut up!"

**Honestly, for such a long chapter, not a lot happened... I just wanted some more subtle developments and humour, so here ya go.**

**Anyways, thanks for reading and doing all the other stuff you guys do. It does mean a lot, and I hope it continues like this.**

**Which brings me to another thing... I do intend on naming Chihiro's guitar, so I'm going to throw the ball to you guys and let you choose a name. Probably, how it'll go is you guys can leave a review with a name you like, and I'll make a poll where you can vote in a few days. If not, I do have a name in mind.**

**Any kind of name'll do, so don't think you're limited to Japanese-sounding names alone.**

**With that, I am done... till next time.**


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